Expanding Paper Practice: Storytelling Practices on Paper from Two Dimensions to Three

Abstract

I ran a handprinted wallpaper studio from 2015 until I moved to the UK in 2021. My wallpapers were narrative explorations of pattern across the printed surface of paper that would cover entire walls in an endless repeat. I used research practices to develop symbols, meanings and stories through residencies at museums, recycling centres, and science labs.

After my studio closed, I began exploring papier-mâché as an alternative practice and found a new relationship to paper. As an illustrator I had never considered paper as a 3D material, always as a surface. The transition has changed my practice significantly, even though many of my tools remain the same.  My work is still primarily for home, but my process has evolved because of my new approach to paper. In this article I’ll explore developments in storytelling on paper in three-dimensional formats, particularly around shape, context, and audience interaction.

I’ll trace histories of storytelling through a variety of illustrators and artists exploring paper beyond the two-dimensional surface, from collage artists like Scott Ramsay Kyle and paper cutters like Rob Ryan. Finally, I’ll draw parallels with an exploration of other American practitioners working with papier-mache and sculptural forms of paper like Bernie Kaminski and Lydia Ricci to ground my ideas of how storytelling can benefit from paper as material.